Unbreakable Bond by Rita Herron (Harlequin Intrigue)

For eight years Nina Nash has been told it's time she moved past the night that changed her life forever. But the sound of her baby's cries at night--and the intense feeling that her little girl is still alive when she's been led to believe otherwise--remain. Only, no one accepts her claims...except the one man who's determined to help her uncover the truth.

Investigator Slade Blackburn takes Nina's case, hoping to finally give her some closure. But what she really needs is someone to trust, someone to protect her...someone to erase the sadness from her beautiful blue eyes. Their search for answers turns dangerous, and Slade vows he'll stop at nothing to ensure her survival survival--and reunite her with the child she and knows is still out there.

Rita Herron wrote her first mystery novel when she was 12 years old, but she grew up in a small Southern town (in a low-income family) and didn't think "real" people became writers. So it wasn't until her midlife crisis years later that she actually pursued publication.Before she put pen to paper, she taught kindergarten for 10 years. Finger painting, puppet shows, and storytelling with imaginative five-year-olds made her yearn to do more with her creative edge, and she began by writing children's stories. Using a variety of props, she performed stories for kids at bookstores, libraries, and schools. When summer came, she was bombarded with three bored kids of her own (and a house full of pets). In a desperate attempt to keep her own children occupied and maintain her sanity, she searched for a book on summer activities for kids. The bookstores were lacking, so she wrote it herself! Her summer project turned into her first book, entitled Surviving Summers with Kids: Fun Filled Activities for All.Once Rita read her first romance novel, she was hooked. So she told her family she was leaving the finger painting, the puppets, and the minivan behind, to write adult fiction. Since then she has sold 12 books, and recently won the Maggie Award for her 1999 Harlequin Intrigue title, Her Eyewitness.Rita loves to hear from fans -- you can contact her at rbherron@bellsouth.com or check updates on titles at www.suspense.net/rita-herron.